towards the end of his tenure, time caught up with Red. Like when "he" drafted Joe Forte over Tony Parker.

"You have the NBA lady, Chrissy, she comes to me and it was the 19th pick. She gives me a Celtics cap, says 'they're gonna pick you.' And it was like three minutes left on the clock, you know you get five minutes to pick somebody, and the at one minute she comes back and she takes the cap and she's like 'oh no, they changed their mind,' and they took my cap back and I was like 'what?!' and Pop stepped in an drafted me." --Tony Parker

One minute away from being a Celtic. Parker went on to explain that he had two workouts for the Celtics and then head coach Jim O'Brien told him they wanted to pick him if the Spurs didn't trade up to get him. He added that O'Brien and then general manager Chris Wallace wanted to draft him, but team president and legend of legends Red Auerbach wanted Joe Forte instead. Simmons then quipped that after that draft was when the Celtics "took the car keys away from Red."

towards the end of his tenure, time caught up with Red. Like when "he" drafted Joe Forte over Tony Parker.

"You have the NBA lady, Chrissy, she comes to me and it was the 19th pick. She gives me a Celtics cap, says 'they're gonna pick you.' And it was like three minutes left on the clock, you know you get five minutes to pick somebody, and the at one minute she comes back and she takes the cap and she's like 'oh no, they changed their mind,' and they took my cap back and I was like 'what?!' and Pop stepped in an drafted me." --Tony Parker

One minute away from being a Celtic. Parker went on to explain that he had two workouts for the Celtics and then head coach Jim O'Brien told him they wanted to pick him if the Spurs didn't trade up to get him. He added that O'Brien and then general manager Chris Wallace wanted to draft him, but team president and legend of legends Red Auerbach wanted Joe Forte instead. Simmons then quipped that after that draft was when the Celtics "took the car keys away from Red."

If we're talking about this in fun or for hypothetical purposes, then yes, I would have preferred that Red trade McHale (loyalty and sympathies aside) and got Schrempf and Perkins. But I do agree that Bias and Lewis' early deaths are really what hurt this team for a long time.

What I am happiest about, however, is that our GM witnessed what happened in the 1990s in Boston and chose not to re-live that era. He traded Pierce and Garnett and got the Nets to mortgage their future for two guys who are clearly on the downward trajectory. Pierce and Garnett will always be remembered here, and they may be equally remembered for spurring the current rebuilding process if those later years Nets picks end up in the lottery, which they certainly could. The Nets have no way of getting young talent on their roster through the draft and the talent they do have is old (Garnett 37 , Pierce 36, Johnson 32), getting older (Williams 30 this year) or has career-threatening injuries (Lopez - broken right foot twice). Good luck Nets. And thank goodness Danny lived through the 90's seeing what letting your stars age in place can get you -- irrelevance.

If we're talking about this in fun or for hypothetical purposes, then yes, I would have preferred that Red trade McHale (loyalty and sympathies aside) and got Schrempf and Perkins. But I do agree that Bias and Lewis' early deaths are really what hurt this team for a long time.

What I am happiest about, however, is that our GM witnessed what happened in the 1990s in Boston and chose not to re-live that era. He traded Pierce and Garnett and got the Nets to mortgage their future for two guys who are clearly on the downward trajectory. Pierce and Garnett will always be remembered here, and they may be equally remembered for spurring the current rebuilding process if those later years Nets picks end up in the lottery, which they certainly could. The Nets have no way of getting young talent on their roster through the draft and the talent they do have is old (Garnett 37 , Pierce 36, Johnson 32), getting older (Williams 30 this year) or has career-threatening injuries (Lopez - broken right foot twice). Good luck Nets. And thank goodness Danny lived through the 90's seeing what letting your stars age in place can get you -- irrelevance.

Trading Ainge was not up there with the Robey for DJ swap, but getting rid of him didn't hurt until Ainge was in a position to trade PP just to make his point that anyone (meaning Danny Anige) can get traded.

Bird and Red had a few things in common, the most obvious of which was the ability to see two or three moves ahead. Red made trades that resulted in McHale and Parish, RUSSELL (for the Ice Capades!) , DJ, Silas, and many more pieces of Celtics championship dominance. Red knew how to acquire the players who could meld into championship teams.

Dave Gavitt "created" the Big East and gave the Mid-Atlantic and New England a powerhouse league for many years. A judge of professional talent or a crafty GM he was not. An even more absurd comparison would be Red to Fraternity Row Rick. Pitino coul/can spot a great high school kid, but beyond that and in the NBA, he was absolutely pathetic. He thought that just bringing in as many former Kentucky players as he could was the key to winning. He also marginalized Red, which spoke volumes about Ricky's intelligence, sensitivity, or lack thereof, and his outsized ego. In that process and with an inability to interact with adult players, the folly that was Pitino set the franchise back about 20 years. I'd vote Red (again).